Can you cure a hangover?

If you've ever dragged yourself into work a little bleary-eyed after a festive night out, you'll have heard people saying "Now what you need is…" followed by some improbable and unpalatable home remedy.

Everyone seems to have a cure for the dreaded hangover. But do any of them actually work? Sadly not, according to the latest research. Doctors trawled through hundreds of studies, looking to see whether there were any good-quality studies with positive results. The answer was no.

Back in Roman times, the favored remedy was cabbage. More recent suggestions include bananas, the blood pressure drug propanolol, prickly pear, artichoke, sports glucose drinks and even the Australian sandwich spread Vegemite. All of those have been studied and found wanting. More traditional remedies like a fried breakfast haven't been studied scientifically.

Tip of the day: Layer up for a cold-weather workout

In winter, exercise clothes should keep you warm but allow sweat to escape. Dressing in layers allows you to shed clothing as needed. For underwear and socks, fabrics that wick away perspiration are best. Follow that with a middle layer of wool or lightweight synthetic fleece, and top it off with wind- and water-resistant outerwear made of nylon or a breathable synthetic like Gore-Tex. Avoid cotton, which retains sweat and loses its insulating power. Wear a stocking cap and gloves or mittens for protection.

Read more ways to get fit for the new year, and for the tips, tests, and Ratings to help you shape up in 2009, see our new do-it-yourself guide. 

Buzzword: HIPAA

What does it mean? HIPAA refers to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a sweeping law passed by Congress in 1996 to help protect workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Perhaps the most significant part of HIPAA for consumers is that it makes health records private, setting up a minimum  federal standard of protection for individuals. Stronger privacy protective state laws still remain in effect. States are also free to enact stronger protections in the future.

Why the buzz? Most consumers don't know much about HIPAA beyond the privacy policy notification forms they routinely sign when they see a health-care provider for the first time. Under HIPAA, individually identifiable health information generally cannot be used or shared without your written permission. For example, your provider generally cannot give your health information to your employer, share your information for marketing or advertising purposes, or share private notes about your mental-health counseling sessions. That said, the HIPPA privacy rule does not impose disclosure restrictions on the exchange of your medical files for the purposes of treatment, payment, or other health-care operations.

It's not too late to choose the right Medicare Part D plan

December 31 is the last day of open enrollment season for the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. A recent report by the Government Accounting Office said that changes in Medicare drug plans were not effectively communicated to enrollees in 2007. The report also found that among beneficiaries who submitted applications after December 15 last year, 40 percent were not completely processed until after the effective date of their new coverage in 2008, creating major challenges for beneficiaries and pharmacies.

In light of the challenges that Medicare beneficiaries once again face in choosing a prescription drug plan for 2009, Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs is offering important tips (PDF download) for choosing plans and saving money. Medicare beneficiaries could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year by taking less expensive—primarily generic—medicines that have been shown to be as effective and safe as more expensive brand-name products. This strategy has the potential to keep millions of seniors every year out of the Part D coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole.”

For Medicare recipients, the Best Buy Drugs project found that those taking a combination of five commonly prescribed drugs—for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis pain, and diabetes—could save between $4,200 and just under $6,000 a year by switching some or all of their drugs to safe, effective, and low-cost Best Buys.

Read the Best Buy Drugs analysis (PDF download) on the importance of carefully selecting a plan and take a look at our full report on Medicare Part D.

Tip of the day: Avoid excess alcohol and help prevent disease

Chronic alcohol abuse and even episodes of heavy drinking can suppress immune function. Alcohol impedes the ability of white-blood cells to travel to infected sites, gobble up and destroy foreign invaders, and identify malignant cells. As a result, alcoholics are more susceptible to bacterial diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis, and have an increased risk of developing cancer. So limit your intake to no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women.

Read more about what you can do to boost your immunity, and read Dr. Marvin Lipman's advice on alcohol use.

Q&A about mercury in fish

Recent news stories have suggested that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering relaxing its fish-consumption advice for vulnerable populations, such as women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children. The stories are based on a leaked internal draft report, which has been posted on the website of the Environmental Working Group. The FDA told us that the reports aren't accurate, and the guidelines won't be changed in the near future.

Currently, the FDA advises these populations to avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish (all contain high levels of mercury), to eat only 12 ounces (about 2 average meals) a week of lower-mercury fish, and to reduce albacore tuna consumption to 6 ounces a week. Consumers Union believes that the mercury warnings for these populations should actually be strengthened, and that pregnant women should avoid all fish that might contain risky levels of mercury, including canned tuna. Urvashi Rangan, a toxicologist and a Senior Scientist and Policy Analyst at Consumers Union explains what a move relaxing the advisory might mean for consumers.

Q: What would it mean to relax the existing advice on mercury consumption in fish for these populations?

A: It would amount to the FDA turning its back on the most vulnerable populations, including women of childbearing years, fetuses, infants and children, when it should be helping to curb their mercury exposure from high-mercury seafood.  According to past estimates out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 6 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age already have mercury concentrations in their blood measuring at or above a level the CDC estimates to be the benchmark for concern.

Q: What are the potential risks associated with eating mercury-containing fish?

A: Mercury toxicity has been linked to neurological, cardiovascular and immune system health effects. There is particular concern for mercury exposure in fetuses, infants and young children, since their neurological and immune systems are still developing. With so many open questions about the causes of  neurological disorders and diseases, including autism, cerebral palsy, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, limiting exposures to neurotoxins makes good health sense.

Q: What types of fish are most likely to mercury?

A: Trace levels of mercury may be  found in most fish, but swordfish, shark, tilefish, king mackerel, and tuna can contain levels that exceed safety limits. Other seafood can contain moderate levels of mercury and consumption of these should be limited. The FDA has a list of mercury levels in fish.

Tip of the day: Don't let jet lag ruin your trip

Anyone traveling across more than one time zone for the holidays can suffer from jet lag, but it's often worst when you fly east. Symptoms are temporary and might include sleepiness or difficulty sleeping, trouble completing tasks, headache, and upset stomach. To prevent jet lag, drink plenty of liquids and avoid large meals. On super-long trips, try for a stopover.

Already jet lagged? An animal study released in May by the Harvard Medical School suggests that long-distance travelers may be able to reset their body clocks by fasting for 12 to 16 hours, then eating at their destination's breakfast time. Some evidence suggests that taking the supplement melatonin at bedtime might also help to treat jet lag. If you're going eastward, seek bright light in the morning; westward, in the afternoon. Spend time outdoors and consider short naps.

Read more on planning ahead to prevent jag lag, and see our Treatment Ratings (subscribers only) to find out what treatments work.

Tip of the day: Soothe holiday heartburn

If your heartburn occurs occasionally and unexpectedly, as is apt to happen to many of us once or twice this holiday season, your best bet is a simple antacid such as generic or store-brand versions of Maalox, Mylanta, Rolaids, or Tums. They come in various dosage forms—liquid suspensions, tablets that you chew or swallow, effervescent solutions, and chewing gum—from which you can choose. They all work in a few minutes by neutralizing the acidity in the esophagus. Their effect lasts up to a few hours, plenty long enough for reflux symptoms to have ceased.

Read the six dos and dont's of hearburn relief, see our Treatment Ratings (subscribers only) to find out how to relieve more severe heartburn, and take a look at our free Best Buy Drugs report on lower-cost heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) drugs.

Another note on headphone safety

If you have a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), watch where you put your headphones, warns a new study presented to the American Heart Association. That's because magnetic substances in headphones can interfere with a pacemaker, potentially causing the heart to beat out of rhythm. When the headphones interfere with ICDs, the ICDs could temporarily stop looking for abnormal heart rhythms. Headphones should be kept at least 1.2 inches away from implanted medical devices, the study says, regardless of what kind of MP3 headphones they are. So if you have a pacemaker or an ICD, don’t keep your ear buds in your shirt pocket or drape them over your chest.

—Kevin McCarthy, associate editor

For more information, read our blog on MP3 players and how you can reduce your risk of hearing loss.

iPods can be a hazard to your hearing, but noise canceling headphones may help

If you or a family member get an iPod this holiday season, make sure you and your loved ones know how to enjoy MP3 players and other personal music devices without permanently damaging hearing.

A new study on hearing loss from personal music players comes from the European Union, which found that 5 to 10 percent of EU’s MP3 listeners—as many as 10 million people—are at high risk of developing noise-induced hearing loss after 5 years of exposure. Previous studies have found risks for U.S. listeners as well.

Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by a combination of the loudness and duration of your exposure to loud noise, primarily through damaging the hair cells inside the ear that convey sound into the nervous system. The louder the noise, and longer the exposure, the greater the risk to those hair cells, and the faster hearing loss can occur.

Furthermore, you become desensitized to noise the longer you listen to loud sounds.  So unless the noise is so loud that you immediately notice discomfort, pain, or ringing your ears, you might not even notice damaging noise until long after it stops and your ears readjust to normal.

So how loud is too loud? Experts don’t agree. For example, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says employers should provide hearing protection when the volume reaches 85. Authors of the EU report conclude that exposure of more than five hours a week at levels exceeding 89 decibels over five years could put you at risk of permanent hearing loss. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends no more than 70 decibels over 24 hours of exposure for the general population.

FDA finds contaminants in weight-loss pills

If you're tempted by the range of weight-loss products on shelves and online during the holiday season, beware. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning on more than 25 products marketed for weight loss. Some of the products claim to be “natural” or to contain only “herbal” ingredients, but actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the product labels. The FDA's analysis found ingredients including sibutramine (a controlled substance and the active ingredient in the prescription drug Meridia), rimonabant (a drug not approved for marketing in the United States), phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication) and phenolphthalein (a chemical solution and laxative used in experiments and a suspected cancer-causing agent).

If you've been taking any of the products listed, The FDA advises you to stop doing so and see a healthcare professional. Read more in its online Q&A.

We've written in the past on false claims of some diet pills and the need for consumers to be wary of labels and sensational claims of rapid weight loss. For some better weight-loss options, we’ll tell you what diets actually work.

Tip of the day: It's OK to skip regular workouts during the holidays

Can you let your exercise routine slide a little during the holidays and still stay fit? Yes. Missing a few sessions is no reason to throw in the towel. For most people, just one 30-minute session each of weight training and aerobic exercise a week can prevent significant fitness loss if you can't maintain your usual workout schedule. It takes several weeks of inactivity for complete deconditioning to happen.

But mix in physical activity whenever you can since it counteracts stress and will help you weather the season feeling more energetic and upbeat. If time is tight, consider taking a walk—at the mall, on your lunch hour, or as a break from your relatives. Three brisk 10-minute walks provide all the benefits of half an hour of continuous exercise.

Read more on getting more from your walking workout and how exercise can help you beat stress.

Study finds video game helps older people stay mentally fit

The adult take on video games is often pretty negative, clouded by anxiety about offspring who spend hours cloistered in their rooms, capturing alien spaceships and shooting up pixelated villains. But gaming isn't all bad: the good news is that for older people, certain types of strategy-based games may improve mental agility.

A new study looked at 40 adults in their 60s and 70s who hadn't played a video game for at least two years. Half received nearly 24 hours of training on a game called Rise of Nations, which gives players points for building cities, feeding and employing citizens, expanding territory, and creating great works of art, technology, and architecture. The other half didn't play or train on any game.

The researchers used several tests to measure each person's mental abilities at the beginning, middle, and end of the study. They found that gamers became much better and faster at switching between tasks as the study progressed. Their reasoning and ability to hold two or more pieces of information in their short-term memory also improved. They also did better in tests measuring their memory of visual cues and how fast they identified objects that had been rotated.

Tip of the day: Add water to your winter workout

Cold weather may leave you feeling less thirsty, but it's still easy to become dehydrated, which can impair your body-heat regulation. As a general rule, drink about one or two cups of water before starting. During the workout—or right after a short one—you should take in as much fluid as you've lost in perspiration. For example, drink about one cup every 20 minutes if you're sweating profusely.

And a word of caution: If you have certain health conditions, such as asthma, coronary heart disease, or diabetes, check with your doctor for more specific directions before exercising strenuously outdoors during the cold-weather months—even if you've been working out regularly in warm weather.

Read more about when you need extra water and check out our tips for preventing workout injuries.

Q&A: Is it safe to eat fish skins and guts?

Is it safe to eat fish skin or crab and lobster entrails (tomalley)? —J.P., Alexandria, Va.

You should probably skip both. Toxins such as PCBs and dioxin can concentrate in the skin, fat, and internal organs of fish. Trim away both the skin and the darker, fatty portions of flesh before cooking. And you should avoid eating tomalley, the greenish substance in a crustacean's gut that serves as a liver and pancreas, even though some people consider it a delicacy. Though it might often be safe, it can contain toxins that filter in from polluted habitats. The Food and Drug Administration warned against eating lobster tomalley in the summer of 2008 due to high levels of a naturally occurring toxin likely stemming from red tides, or dangerous algal bloom.

Read more about fish risks and how to cut your risk of food-borne illness.